The new Evans Fitness Club opened Wednesday to a hubbub of activity as members checked out the new equipment, and visitors took tours and signed up for workouts.

The area’s newest fitness facility, located on a 31-acre site in Marshall Square in Evans, held a ribbon-cutting with the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce at 11 a.m. and officially opened its doors 12:12 p.m.

“Words can’t begin to describe it,” co-owner and general manager Mike Montarbo said. “It’s been a long process. It’s been about a year-and-a-half of planning, developing, creating and finally getting close.”

The two-story facility encompasses 53,610 square feet and has a variety of workout areas. Downstairs features free weights and plate-loaded Hammer Strength equipment and the facility’s 22-foot-tall rock-climbing wall, a steel octagon cage for martial arts and self-defense classes, a 40-yard sprint track, racquetball courts and a spinning room.

Each locker room has showers, saunas and steam rooms. Day-care is provided for members’ children. A smoothie shop and weight-loss center located in the gym is available to nonmembers.

Montarbo can’t point to just one thing as the club’s biggest selling point.

“It’s pretty much the whole gym,” he said. “It’s unlike anything in the CSRA. We have a lot of stuff that nobody else in town has. We’re proud to offer the good people of Columbia County and the CSRA an opportunity to experience the big-city fitness in their backyard.”